Zada and the Zen of Unexpected Spaces

Zada Zenovka relaxes in space

When I decided to blog about the people of Second Life, I knew that Zada Zenovka would be among the first avatars I would want to interview.  She is – in so many ways – the sort of person you love meeting in SL; she is creative, bright, talented and funny but does not publicize her Second Life all that much.  Aside from her shop, Shapes by Zada (which sells shapes, eyes, specialty skins, and some fun freebies), Zada does some custom shape work, is involved with a variety of art and cultural projects, creates some fascinating builds, and is an admitted shopaholic.

We met over a few drinks at the bar in the observation platform atop Zada’s Space Elevator at Technohenge.  The observation platform is much like its creator; beautiful, eclectic, and smart.  To get to this shiny platform with transparent walls overlooking the earth and surrounded by the stars and moon, you have to take a nearly two-minute elevator ride to get to 2000m.  The objects in the room tell a bit about the person who put it together:  a jar with Chuck Norris’ face; a beautifully constructed book filled with Zada’s line of historical skins and shapes; a bar adorned with classic film noir movie posters; a mix of Victorian and modern couches; and series of pictures of Zada as a toy robot.

We chatted for well over an hour and covered a range of topics.  Read our conversation after the jump to learn about her efforts to find the secret Linden gardens, the Zen of SL, and more…

The Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I had great designs on a couple of posts this week, but important things in my first life have slowed this week’s ambitions.

First, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful and supportive comments about starting this blog; I just hope that I can meet people’s expectations. The most interesting thing, however, has been that I’ve heard from a few people that they thought I had given up on Second Life. I suppose this is a natural reaction, it seems like there is a revolving door with people leaving all of the time. Getting close to people only to have them poof away for good becomes something one gets accustomed to and is an accepted part of the culture.

During the last months, those of you who know me noticed that I wasn’t around Second Life much at all (and, even when I was, I tended to be in stealth mode.) This wasn’t because I had given up on Second Life, but more that I was a combination of burnt out and needing to gain perspective. But, like Mark Twain’s famous quote, I wasn’t quite gone. My time away helped me do exactly what I needed; reprioritize, get some better balance, and decide exactly what I wanted to get out of Second Life. My hope is to continue to enjoy friends old and new, explore the potential of the metaverse and to somehow contribute to making SL a more positive place.

Taking a step back wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I would highly recommend giving it a try; it doesn’t need to be forever but can really help you feel renewed in both lives. So, have you ever taken a hiatus from Second Life? Has it changed how you approach SL?

Down Another Rabbit Hole…

After hearing the consistent refrain from friends and loved ones — why don’t you have a blog about Second Life? — I have finally decided to start one.  Why now you ask?   That is a very good question, but between feeling ready for a project that might help me somehow contribute to the Second Life community and deciding that I could try this without it letting it become a huge time sink, it simply felt like I should.  Let’s hope I’m right.

So what is this blog about? Well, because my Second Life is so much about connections with others, my blog is too.  My hope is that it will be is a mix of opinion and conversations with fascinating avatars who make up this world (and some silliness thrown in for good measure).   While I stand in awe of the technology behind Second Life (which may well involve Pixies for all I know), I’ve found that it is the people in Second Life truly give it its dimension and depth. This world has so many amazing, passionate and creative people who shape it to be such a wondrous place; I plan to have interviews with a wide range of people in SL to get a bit of a look at why they’re here.  It will also be a place where I can share other thoughts in more than 140 character bursts (ahem, Twitter and Plurk).  And if you’re reading this, thank you for being here!  I do hope you’ll keep reading.  Please feel free to send me your suggestions and criticisms as I grow and learn; your thoughts will help this blog be more interesting.

Finally, a special thanks to my friend Botgirl Questi for the title of the blog. I think she had other designs for it and appreciate her generously sharing her creativity.